Bronxtalk 34th State Senate Debate

 It was the debate of the political season in the Bronx, that is the debate between incumbent State Senator Jeff Klein and challenger Oliver Koppell for the 34th State Senate seat. Above left to right are Bronxtalk host Gary Axelbank, challenger Oliver Koppell, and incumbent State Senator Jeff Klein. Candidate Koppell was asked a question about term limits, and why he voted to overturn the will of the voters of the city for a third term in office. Candidate Koppell answered that he does not believe in term limits, and then went into an  attack on Senator Klein claiming that Senator Klein stopped important Democratic legislation such as the Dream Act, a higher minimum wage, and campaign finance reform by caucusing with the Republican Senate Conference.

 Senator Klein responded that he had introduced that exact legislation that candidate Koppell was talking about, and that while the 5 members of the Independent Democratic Conference (that he heads) there were 2 Democratic senators that did not vote for it resulting in the failure of the legislation. Senator Klein then said that he supported the Democratic candidate Bill Thompson for mayor in 2009 while Councilman Oliver Koppell supported Republican candidate Mike Bloomberg for mayor.

  Senator Klein brought up the proposed 11 story medical center in Community Board 8, saying that Councilman Koppell if he had rezoned the area properly could have prevented such a building proposal, and that he and Assemblyman Dinowitz had to have a state law enacted to halt the progress. Candidate Koppell was also slammed for supporting an 11 story project on Broadway in North Riverdale that would have 25 percent of the apartment for seniors go to criminally mentally disturbed occupants. Candidate Koppell answered by saying they have to go somewhere. 

  The back and forth continued with candidate Koppell throwing everything but the kitchen sink at Senator Klein, that is until the closing statements. During his closing statement candidate Koppell brought out a New York Post article from March 2012 claiming that Senator Klein had gamed the system. and possibly broke the law on tax breaks and failure to disclose income. Candidate Koppell then said that Ms. Candice Giove who wrote the article is now Senator Klein's campaign spokesperson. 

  Senator Klein in his closing statement said that the campaign of Oliver Koppell is all personal attacks, and no record to run on. Klein added that he is proud of his record, and what he has done as an elected official. 

  Host Gary Axelbank then thanked both Senator Jeff Klein and challenger Oliver Koppell for appearing. You can read a more comprehensive review of the debate in my column the Riverdale Report in the Bronx News or Parkchester News. To see the debate you can go to www.bronxnet.org and scroll down to the Bronxtalk 34th State Senate debate, or you can catch it in reruns all week on channel 67 Cablevision or 33 FIOS.